www.soriano-ph.com

I join our countrymen and the world in mourning the passing of Tita Cory. I learned about her death while I was in Naga City. And when I came back last night after a grueling land trip to Manila, I and my son, Jimbo, did not waste any time in paying our last respect for her at La Salle Greenhills.

Many great things have been said about Tita Cory and she truly deserves all the accolade.

But I love Tita Cory because she made us believe that what it takes to be a great leader and human being is neither education nor experience nor brilliance, just plain and simple sincerity, honesty, integrity, modesty, faith and the fortitude to rise above difficult circumstances – qualities that are rare these days and you can hardly find in any of our present day leaders.

I love Tita Cory because she made sure that we, our children, and hopefully the next generation enjoy the blessings of freedom under a regime of democracy. They say that absolute power corrupts but Tita Cory did not succumb to the temptation, when it was very convenient for her to do so. Her presidency had its own share of weaknesses but no one can deny that she served us well by making sure that every Filipino enjoy the fruits of liberty.

And I love Tita Cory because she distinctly made me proud to be a Filipino. The phenomenal and world-acclaimed People Power of 1986 was bloodless and peaceful simply because Tita Cory was its icon, its inspiration, its moving spirit. And I now reminisce that part of my life circa 1983-1986 with great pleasure which I want my children to cherish and understand well.

I dare say that Ninoy’s life and death was actually meant by God to prepare Tita Cory to be our own Joan of Arc. God must be on our side for giving us Tita Cory.

“I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life”, Tita Cory once said.  You did, Tita Cory.

“I hope that history will judge me as favorably as our people still regard me, because, as God is my witness, I honestly did the best I could. No more can be asked of any man”, Tita Cory said in her last SONA.  We know you did, Tita Cory.

With your death, may the hopes of the Filipino people live again by tying that yellow ribbon ’round the old oak tree.

Thank you Tita Cory. Thank you. Farewell.

- – - – - – - – - – - – -

Below is a song composed by my best friend, Corazon Guidote, arranged by Roy Del Valle, performed by Lisa Del Valle and photoshow assembled by Mike Reyes.

This is under  CC-BY-NC-ND Philippine License 3.0

LINK: ‘Note Verbale’, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Times) – 24 February 2008 Issue

Tomorrow is the 22nd anniversary of the so-called ‘people power 1’ that toppled the authoritarian regime of former president Ferdinand E. Marcos and brought the country from a brief revolutionary regime to a constitutional democracy. Certainly, it was a fine moment in human history that the country can be proud of.

More than seven years ago, the strong political clamor to remove former president Joseph E. Estrada on charges of corruption gave rise to ‘people power 2’. Following a constitutionally-defined succession in which the Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo assumed the post of chief executive.

While both versions of people power are being held in high esteem by the international community for the bloodless takeover of political regimes, there is no dispute that they would have not succeeded without military intervention. People power 1 and 2 were peaceful and bloodless because the top guns of the military hierarchy chose to shift loyalties to a new regime.

The sad reality is that no amount of public expression and demonstration of protest and condemnation even by a majority of the citizenry would topple a political regime without military intervention. Political leaders are naturally driven by the desire to preserve authority and power until all the avenues are closed, which only the armed forces could bring about.

Take the case of the ensuing ‘people power 3’ to restore the Estrada presidency. It failed not because it had no popular support, as in fact, Estrada obtained the most convincing and strongest mandate of the electorate in the country’s history when he got elected to the office. It failed because former president Estrada no longer had the organized support of the military generals.

In the current political controversy hounding the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the shifting of loyalties of the military hierarchy seems close to impossible. The commander-in-chief is astute enough to make the military leadership tow her line. Should the disgruntled junior officers in the military establishment decide to take matters in their hands, ‘people power 4’ would certainly be bloody and does not deserve to be called one. It would either be a rebellion, a mutiny or a coup d’etat.

The only constitutional mechanism to replace a president who betrayed public trust is the process of impeachment. But then again, this political process would not have any chance to even take off because of the president’s political dominance of the House of Representatives.

The church is calling for a ‘communal action’ or for a more meaningful or a new brand of ‘people power’ whatever that means. Certainly, street demonstrations, prayer rallies, and similar expressions of public protests would not bring about a new brand of ‘people power 4’ and make President Arroyo give up her office, even if the cardinals and the bishops are able to physically gather a million Filipinos in Luneta to call for her resignation.  The minions of the president have mastered so well the Machiavellian art of ‘divide and rule’.

For people power 4 to succeed in the same context as people power 1 and 2, but without the usual military interference, there must be some collective political will on the part of Filipinos to show that they are the sovereign authority. This could be done perhaps by momentarily withholding government support in the form of taxes, or by exercising the framework of people’s initiative to constitutionally shorten the term of the incumbent president, or a mass resignation or leave of absence of government servants who still upholds morality in public service. All these would be done only to put pressure to the president to resign and allow the constitutional processes to take shape. But obviously these are arduous paths to take.

In the meantime, a long-drawn-out political deadlock is in the offing. This means some setback in the economy and some political instability and maneuverings here and there. The Filipino people need to sacrifice more in the ensuing tug-of-war because whoever of the opposing camps blinks first loses the game.

If there is still a chance for ‘people power 4’, it should be within the constitutional spirit that sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them. Otherwise, people power 4 could be tragic.

LINK: ‘Note Verbale‘, Manila Times (Sunday-Career Section) - 25 February 2007 Issue

Today is the 21st anniversary of the ‘EDSA People Power Revolution’ that toppled the regime of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

But other than being a public holiday with government-sponsored festivities, this revolution is slowly losing its luster in the hearts and minds of the Filipino people.

“Regretfully, the prevailing view is that EDSA was no big deal … that EDSA is no longer that important seems more and more the conventional wisdom … as the event recedes into the fog of history,” said former President Fidel V. Ramos, a key player in this historical event. 

What is the big deal about People Power when there is unabated corruption in public governance, when government merely pays lip service to violations of human rights, when the economic conditions of the country continue to favor the rich than the poor, when the suffrage remains subservient to electoral cheating or political patronage and getting elected to public office is reduced to a mere popularity contest, in addition to traditional rule of political dynasties?

More than two decades after the EDSA revolution, many of the same faces under the Marcos regime are still in power, only death perhaps would make them vanish from the political limelight. The new faces on the other hand simply and conveniently assumed the ugly faces and the usual ways of their old counterpart.

Twenty one years is not even enough to sustain a final conviction of the so-called Marcos cronies and put them where they finally belong at the national penitentiary. The recovery of the alleged ill-gotten wealth is still mired in a complicated process of litigation. 

All of these are the promises that EDSA failed to keep. And as years go by, there is little hope that these promises will ever be fulfilled.

With People Power, the Filipino people had that once in a lifetime opportunity for dramatic social transformation and wide-ranging political reforms. But they missed the chance very miserably either because all the post-EDSA governments did not have the political will or the people of this country are morally weak or even innately lackadaisical in preserving their gains.

Perhaps some political observers are correct in saying that what this country needs is a benevolent dictator in the concept of an ‘enlightened despot’ of ancient Greek philosopher Plato. With a dictator, political will prevails over rules and people are driven to follow. The only problem with the set-up is that it is grossly subjective. A government of men and not of laws would always be a shaky condition.

Erstwhile President Corazon C. Aquino could have been the enlightened despot the country needed at the onset of her revolutionary regime. But it is not in her mettle and so she chose the difficult path of restoring and re-building democratic processes and institutions. In any case, it would also be difficult to imagine for the people then to accept a tyrannical rule after overthrowing a tyrant.

More than twenty years later, the 1986 People Power is simply just another historic fairy tale except that it did not have an ending where Filipinos lived happily ever after. Even its 2001 sequel did not make any difference on the status quo. 
  
The next time that the people wake up to call for social and political reforms, it could be a bloody confrontation among compatriots, a cleansing process that was wanting, they say, in the bloodless coup of 1986 for the Filipino people to hold sacred the value of freedom and democracy and everything that they represent.

People power – is there really such a thing? Or is it just a broken dream?